Yeah, but again, why is that gimmick so linked to that batch of characters?

It depends a lot on what gimmick we're talking about, at least for me. With Headmasters in particular, I think the gimmick is pretty important. Because going back to the 80s, we actually know a lot more about some of the Nebulans' personalities than we do the Transformers they're attached to. So it would be a shame to get a toy of Squeezeplay without Lokos, or Scorponok without Lord Zarak. I'd feel similar about most Pretenders, since most of them spent most of their time wearing their shells -- it'd be a shame if they made a new mold for Bomb-Burst or Octopunch or Longtooth and it was just their inner robot, and most Pretenders can't be streamlined as easily as Thunderwing was (since his shell already looked robotic and could transform).

On the other hand, I don't think you lose anything essential to the character by making Getaway or Triggerhappy and ditching their partners, because their partners were essentially ignored even in the fiction that was meant to showcase them. Of course, that's strictly a matter of taste and I don't think someone would be wrong to be annoyed that the current toys aren't a Powermaster or Targetmaster respectively (or to not care about gimmicks at all, as the case may be).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay

Is it the expectation that if they don't make the 1988 series of headmasters again with this bunch, they won't at all?

That's a big part of it too, yeah. Before this year the only Headmaster who'd gotten a new mold release was Brainstorm. Hardhead and Nightbeat had gotten a redeco or two and Scorponok's name had been attached to a few similar characters in different universes, but after ten years' worth of G1-inspired figures it's gotten pretty clear that these guys aren't exactly Hasbro's top priority. If they can't even get their foot in the door when the entire line is dedicated to their gimmick, I can't see many of them putting in appearances any time soon. We may get toys of them eventually, but "eventually" might mean "2028", or even longer.

Also:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay

I mean they just made a Brainstorm headmaster a year or so ago, and now they're doing him again in a size class smaller to match all the others. It's not like they won't retread recently covered ground.

That's the problem, though. They will retread recently covered ground, so in a few years when someone wants to throw in a token Headmaster character or two into that year's line they're just as likely to make another Brainstorm or Hardhead as they are to explore the characters that didn't get the new toy treatment in Titans Return.

The two Brainstorms also illustrate another niggle: that they felt obliged to "redo" the character in such a short time frame because the design style of the first one is so different and the gimmick isn't interchangeable. You saw the same thing happen with Combiner Wars, where the product was completely different from the FoC Combaticons that came out, what, a year and a half before?

So past precedent says that if they do revisit the Headmasters that they're not touching in Titans Return, they'll be visually distinct from this year's Headmasters and the gimmick (if it's there at all) won't work the same way, so the heads won't be interchangeable. And that's hardly the end of the world, but it would have been nice to have the whole set done in a similar visual style with compatible gimmickry. It doesn't make the ones we're getting bad, it just makes me pine a bit for what might have been.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay

To me it's like saying that they were wasting a slot with the recent Rhinox because they already did Springer and Sandstorm and they should have made a new Broadside then to go with them.

A lot of people did grumble about that, actually, especially since Blitzwing came out at the same time. And I understand why: it would have been cool to have all the Triplechangers done in the same size class and style. Instead they've got those three, a puny Octane and a choice between a puny Astrotrain and one who's a Headmaster with 1987ish styling (and no Broadside), and people who'd like to display a full set of visually-similar modern Triplechangers can't do it because it doesn't exist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan F

Plus, Getaway uses the Chromedome mould; Blurr is a retooled Brainstorm. At least some of these 'hanger-ons' are just there to milk the moulds (think CW Alpha Bravo).

Getaway in particular annoys me because Nightbeat and Siren both transform almost exactly like the new Chromedome mold and have a similar body layout. They could have made either (or both) of them just as easily as they made Getaway, but didn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan F

I mean, we could potentially get a Fangry out of Weirdwolf (or maybe even Alpha Trion), Hot Rod could double as Arcee, Siren or Nightbeat and so on. We've had a lot of moulds so far with no confirmed re-tools - I'm inclined to wait a while before passing judgement.

The thing is, people said the same stuff about Combiner Wars: that the two waves of G1 cars were just space-filling, that they'd definitely get around to doing all the G1 teams and not to worry. And we all know how that turned out: the Technobots got relegated to a half-assed box set and the beast teams were omitted entirely. I'd have more faith in Hasbro doing right by the lesser-known Headmasters if they hadn't just passed over the far more popular Predacons and Terrorcons.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Doublecross become Fangry -- just get the two heads to peg together into a single unit and you'd be most of the way there. But with Apeface, Nightbeat, Siren, Squeezeplay and Horri-Bull already getting a head-only release, I'd be very surprised to see any of them get a full figure in the line.